Globalization and poverty in Vietnam: Introduction and overview

The papers in this special issue present results from three research projects on Vietnam looking, respectively, at poverty dynamics; globalization, production and poverty; and at foreign direct investment. Vietnam has seen a striking reduction in poverty since its opening to the outside world in the early 1990s under its doi moi economic reform programme, and evidence for this poverty reduction is not sensitive to where the poverty line is drawn. Inequality; however, has risen. An important part of Vietnam's reform programme has been the rapid development of labour-intesive manufactured exports such as garments and footwear, partly driven by foreign investment, while the domestic market has remained quite protected. Employment growth has been disappointing, though, since Vietnamese industry has been shedding labour as it catches up with world standards of productivity.